Havoc Demon Hunter DPS Guide — Midnight Pre-Patch (12.0)

While the Midnight Pre-Patch brings some massive overhauls to some specs, when it comes to Havoc it's very similar to its live counterpart. The most notable change relates to its Fury generation, which has been reduced, alongside some surgical changes to its precise sequencing requirements. Both Hero Talents have also seen changes, but the same core that existed in The War Within remains. Below are some notes on key things to be aware of, broken down into sections.

While the changes to both Hero Talent trees are relatively modest for Havoc, they are impacted in particular by the Fury generation changes. They still maintain a similar gameplay flow while retaining their damage profile niches, with some key changes:

• Aldrachi Reaver Changes - Click for Details

  • Thrill of the Fight now grants 6% Haste, and increases the damage of your next Reaver's Glaive by 30%.
  • Three new talents: Broken Spirit, Keen Edge and Bladecraft.
  Of the two trees, Aldrachi Reaver is definitely the most impacted by both the Fury and Class tree that came in. The removal of Sigil of Spite and Sigil of Flame (alongside Soul Sigils) has been replaced by Soul Splitter, but is a noticeable reduction in reliable Soul generation. The new Broken Spirit does go some way towards mending this, and its spot as a powerful funnel spec via Wounded Quarry remains true.
• Fel-Scarred Changes - Click for Details

  • Demonsurge now deals Chaos damage, once again scaling with Mastery.
  • Demonic Intensity increases Demonsurge damage by 5% per stack, down from 10%.
  • Burning Blades accumulates 35% of damage dealt, down from 50%, but now also applies to First Blood damage from Blade Dance.
  • Three new talents: Blind Focus, Undying Embers and Volatile Instinct.
  On the other hand, Fel-Scarred saw quality of life improvements to sand some of the edges off. The most important is Demonsurge being added back to the Havoc Mastery, while also including First Blood in the Burning Blades effect. This goes a long way toward fixing some of the rotational issues that popped up in The War Within, and while losing Sigil of Flame did impact Demonic Intensity, the tree is definitely improved over its previous iteration.

The most noticeable thing when starting with Midnight Havoc will be the changes to Fury. Both Sigil of Flame and Sigil of Spite have been removed, along with Demon's Bite (with Demon Blades now becoming baseline, and buffed by 20%). Pair that with Felblade having its generation reduced to 15, and you'll find resources are slower alongside being more passive.

On the talent tree, a few things have changed and been moved:

• The Hunt and Demonic are now both in the centre of the spec tree.
• Inner Demon and Chaotic Transformation have been combined into a choice node.
• A Fire Inside is now flat CDR for Immolation Aura rather than a reset proc.
• Essence Break now triggers flat bonus damage instead of being a multiplier.
• Glaive Tempest is now a passive proc when Blade Dance hits 3+ enemies, instead of an active.

This makes pathing on the tree a bit more streamlined, while also trimming both the extended opener sequencing and AoE RNG streaks that can get in the way of smooth gameplay.

Note: The Havoc Apex Talent - Eternal Hunt - has a significant impact on both Hero Talent builds, adding strong follow-ups to The Hunt. This does influence both how the spec performs and plays, but it will not be available until Midnight fully releases.

For defense, Havoc saw big improvements with the addition of Demonic Resilience. Adding a second charge to Blur is a huge bonus for survival, and the spec tree node change that came with it is even stronger. Desperate Instincts now increases the damage reduction to 35%, and provides 10% damage reduction whenever you're below 35% HP. While it lost the bonus dodge chance, this is a huge survival improvement. Netherwalk has also been lost in the transition to Midnight.

In the utility department, Fel Eruption was removed, though in exchange Chaos Nova stun duration has been increased to 3 seconds. This paris with a new follow-up, Focused Ire, that increases that duration to 5 on your current target. Wings of Wrath has also been added, increasing your movement speed while gliding, providing even more mobility on an already mobile spec.

Hopefully this summary has provided a quick primer for the big changes arriving with Midnight so you can focus on being as ready as you can for the launch on March 2nd (or February 27th with Early Access). If you're looking to go the extra mile and optimize your leveling journey in Midnight, take a look at our recommended consumables to have ready to reach max-level as soon as possible!